This page was last updated on April 18, 2010.
Paying up; Editorial; Beaver County Times; April 18, 2010.
Yawn. Since at least 2004, Times editorials have told us our taxes aren’t high and implied we’re selfish for not wanting tax increases. The only exception I recall is when it comes to so-called business taxes that may directly affect Times operations. This editorial is another example. This time the editorial and its companion also try to make the case tea partiers have no basis for complaining about taxes.
You’ll note the editorial didn’t get into the details of why for 2010 “the average American pays about one-fourth of his/her income in taxes.” FYI, “about one-fourth” is 26.89%. When you refer to The Tax Foundation report the editorial mentioned, you find the lower rate is a function of the recession. That is, the lower than normal overall rate is due to temporary “tax cuts” (actually rebates) and people falling into lower tax rate brackets due to reduced income. The peak was 33% in 2000 and was 31% as recently as 2007. Funny how that escaped the Times research, isn’t it? <g>
The editorial says, “Federal taxes will go up in the coming years, if for no other reason than the American people have to start paying the tab for their extravagant spending, especially in the last decade.” Since Times editorials don’t tend to distinguish between “taxes” (collections) and “tax rates,” I’m not sure if this sentence meant to refer to rates or collections. While tax rates will likely increase as a result of leftist legislation, collections won’t increase long-term until our economy recovers long-term. As a reminder, the Times itself is a proponent of “extravagant spending” in that editorials support just about every spending proposal that comes down the pike. Did you notice how the editorial failed to mention tax increases required for Obamacare that the Times supports? It probably was just an oversight. <g>
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